PLENARY SESSION and Banquet Conclude 41st Clergy-Laity Congress

PLENARY SESSION and banquet conclude 41st clergy-laity
congress

Delegates
Decide to Keep Congress Biennial

PHOENIX – The official
business of the 41st Clergy-Laity Congress concluded Wednesday July
4, 2012 with the plenary session which lasted all day and was the culmination
of the forums, meetings of the committees, workshops, receptions and social events
of fellowship--all of which contributed to a very productive and successful
Congress, inspiring the delegates and participants to spread the message, Chosen and Appointed by God to Go and Bear Fruit.

The
Clergy-Laity Congress was attended by 790 participants, 651 of which were
registered delegates from 326 parishes. The National Philoptochos Convention had
the second highest participation record with 372 delegates. The grand banquet was
attended by over 1400 people.

The
work of the committees and the workshops on the ministries of the Church, which
started on Monday following the opening session, continued all day Tuesday,
July 3. The work of these two days was the core of the Clergy-Laity Congress,
providing both information and forums to present new ideas and develop the ministries
and the organizations of the Church.
The delegates, clergy and laity alike, reported finding the information
presented throughout as edifying and valuable for their ministry in the
parishes.

The
Plenary Session began on Wednesday at 9 am and continued until 5 pm with only a
short lunch break. It consisted of
reports from committees, ministries, and affiliated organizations and
institutions of the Church. The
reports presented and discussed were by the following: Archdiocesan Advisory
Committee on Science and Technology (AACST); Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate;
Leadership 100 presented by chairman Charles Cotros; Greek Education; Parish
Development; Outreach, Missions and Evangelism; Administration Committee;
Stewardship; Communications; Internet; Finance; Chaplaincy; Religious
Education; Youth and Camping Ministries; and Family and Marriage.

Following
the presentation of the Administration Committee report, there was significant
discussion regarding the issue of convening the Clergy-Laity Congress every
three years instead of every two years as the practice has been for many
decades. Finally the overwhelming majority voted to maintain the current
frequency of the Clergy-Laity Congresses at every two years.

The
Resolutions Committee presented five resolutions which were adopted by the
majority of the delegates. These were: 1) a resolution of support for the
suffering people in Greece, 2) a resolution on the Patriarchate of Antioch and
the situation in Syria, 3) a resolution for the protection of religious freedom
of all Christians in Egypt, 4) a resolution supporting accessibility of church
facilities to people with disabilities, and 5) a resolution of “Thanks.” (See
the resolutions online at http://www.goarch.org/news/2012congressresolutions)

In
his closing remarks at the Plenary Session, Archbishop Demetrios of America expressed his gratitude to all the
delegates for their diligent work and participation and to the all the Metropolitans
for listening lovingly. He said
that special care should be given to young adults and college students, for the
Orthodox Christian family, in outreach to the unchurched and the baptized who
are not regularly practicing, and to the opportunities for outreach that arise
in our parishes on occasions like church festivals. The Patriarchal
Representative Metropolitan Sotirios of
Toronto expressed gratitude for the respect he received and for what is
being done by the Church in America for our Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The
day concluded with a Grand Banquet attended by an estimated 1400 people. Archon Theofanis Economidis, Congress
co-chairman, was the master of ceremonies and offered welcoming remarks to the
participants, followed by remarks by co-chair Isidiros Garifalakis. Aphrodite
Skeadas, the President of the National Philoptochos, recognized the 80th
Anniversary of the Philoptochos in her inspiring greetings. Greetings were also offered by the
Ambassador of Cyprus to the United States, Pavlos Anastasiadis. The highlight
of the evening was a special 4th of July patriotic musical
presentation by Rev. Fr. John Bakas, Soprano Michele Patzakis and Baritone Constantine
Pappas. A special tribute for the 75th Anniversary of Hellenic
College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology was presented by its
President, Fr. Nicholas Triantafilou, followed by a video presentation on the
School prepared by GOTelecom.

Remarks
and pastoral exhortations were also offered at the banquet by Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco,
the Patriarchal Representative Metropolitan
Sotirios of Toronto, and Archbishop
Demetrios of America, who said that this Congress set a high level of
achievement in all aspects of its work and reiterated the need to focus on the
issues of youth, the disconnected and non-practicing Orthodox Christians, and the
rebuilding of St. Nicholas Church at the World Trade Center as beacon for faith
and Orthodoxy worldwide.